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Aimer, Adorer, Plaire Posted by on Dec 3, 2021 in Language, Uncategorized

Bonjour!

Today it’s all about the verbs aimer, adorer, and plaire (to like/love, to adore, to please/like) and how to express these sentiments in French to your petit-copain or petite-copine (boyfriend or girlfriend)!

Photo from Pixabay, CCO

I love you

The French use the verb ‘aimer’ to express love in the following expressions:

Je t’aime – I love you

Je t’aime beaucoup – I love you a lot

Je t’aime à la folie – I love you like crazy

Je t’aime de tout mon cœurI love you with all my heart

Je t’aime pour toujours – I love you forever

Je t’aime à mourirI love you to death.

I adore you

Yes, adorer means to ‘adore’ or ‘love’ something but it’s not the main verb you would use to tell someone you are in love with them, but it’s still sweet to express your adoration of someone! When talking about loving anything other than a person though, use this verb!

Je t’adore, ma puce – I adore you, my flea (yes, it’s a common pet-name!)

On adore la musique classique – We love classical music

I like you

Here are two ways you can say ‘I like you’ in French:

*Tu me plais – I like you (lit. you are pleasing to me)

**Je t’aime bien – I like you

⚠ What’s up with the conjugation of tu me plais here? Shouldn’t it be ‘je te plais‘ – nope! The verb plaire is conjugated quite differently, as it means something is pleasing to you (whether that me a person or something else!) Therefore, watch the subject of the verb plaire when conjugating – the verb agrees with the thing being liked, not the person who likes it. (Another example of a verb like this – manquer (to miss) tu me manques – I miss you [you are missing to me])

Some more examples:

Le chocolat plaît à Brigitte – Brigitte likes chocolate (Chocolate is pleasing to Brigitte)

Je te plais? – You like me? (I am pleasing to you?)

Les fleurs me plaisentI like the flowers (The flowers are pleasing to me)

Nous plaisons à Anthony – Anthony likes us (We are pleasing to Anthony)

⚠⚠Now you may be confused – wouldn’t je t’aime bien also means ‘I love you a lot’? Nope, the adverb ‘bien‘ in this case does the opposite – it softens the meaning to ‘like’ and not ‘love.’ So be careful!

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Other ways to express some warm and fuzzy feelings in French:

J’en pince pour toiI have a crush on you (lit. I pinch it for you)

Je pense à toi tout le tempsI think of you all the time

Tu es le soleil de ma vieYou are the sunshine of my life

Tu fais battre mon cœurYou make my heart race

Have some other sweet sentiments? Share them below!

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About the Author: Bridgette

Just your average Irish-American Italo-Francophone. Client Engagement for Transparent Language.